The Complete History of The Howling

by Bryn Curt James Hammond, Nick Stead, Paul Knappett (Editor)

The Complete History of The Howling is an account of The Howling film franchise written by bestselling English author and 2018 Hall of Horror inductee Bryn Curt James Hammond (who also authored A Case for Brittany Murphy Files), with a foreword by Howling II’s Philippe Mora and a behind-the-scenes diary from Ghostbusters II FX artist William Forsche (Howling The Original Nightmare). When The Howling premiered in 1981 the film introduced cinema-goers to an all-new kind of movie monster spawning seven Howling sequels as of 2018. The Complete History of The Howling is the first book to chronicle the making of all eight feature films, with new interviews from the series cast and crew and takes an in-depth look at the film’s source material by Gary Brandner, which began life in 1977 as a trilogy of books.

96 pages, Paperback

Published November 7, 2018

About the author

Bryn Curt James Hammond is a best-selling author, journalist and TV personality. He established a name for himself during the millennium when he was catapulted into the spotlight and guaranteed studios DVD rentals based on his views and opinions. Bryn Hammond’s quotes featured on no less than 100 DVD covers, including Devils Playground, Psychosis and Growth, more recently ClownterGeist, The Shadow Man and The Jurassic Games.

Bryn started out in the entertainment industry at a young age as a model and worked on various brand campaigns before retiring in 2001.

In 2004 Bryn took on the small screen and directed the B-movie The Summer of the Massacre, which was later remade and released in 2011. He’s also appeared in Before Dawn, Midnight Meat Train and Best Worst Movie.

In 2005 Bryn single-handedly launched GoreZone Magazine, later rebranded GZ Mag.

Since GZ Magazine Bryn has written five successful books, including his best-seller A Case for Murder: Brittany Murphy Files.

Three of his books, Anna Nicole Smith Files, Aaliyah Files and Brittany Murphy Files, are part of a ten-part book series titled A Case for Murder, currently being translated to a TV docudrama.

Another offshoot of this series is the eBook tour guide with a difference, called A Case for Murder: Tour Guide Files, taking the reader on a tour of the dark side of the USA, focusing on hotels, night clubs and various other locations where celebrity scandals have occurred, including ghastly murders. These disturbing tourist hotspots are guaranteed to send a shiver down the spine of the most hardened ghost hunter.

The fifth paperback is The Complete History of The Howling set to hit stores 7th Nov 2018, that takes an in-depth look at the entirety of The Howling franchise, kicked started by Joe Dante’s 1981 cult classic.

Bryn’s unique style of writing sets him apart from the standard run-of-the-mill writers, and his is definitely a name to watch out for.

Reviews

[Jase Marsiglia · Rating 5 out of 5]

It would take a truly dedicated fan to roll up their sleeves and dive into the deep end of the "The Howling" franchise (a series as mismanaged and unbalanced as say, the “Amityville” flicks), and look under the fur, so to speak for its secrets behind their troubled productions, weird continuity (or lack thereof) and track down the players behind it for candid interviews. That’s precisely what Bryn Curt James Hammond does though in "The Complete History of the Howling".

I read this book while revisiting the series myself and its not only impressive the amount of information Hammond collected to put it together, but in its breezy 140+ pages, it covers a wealth of information, offers a wide variety of rare photos, ads and behind-the-scenes images, and allows for some truly honest interviews with various directors, effects artists and writers.

With the exception of the original 3 theatrical films in the series, home video releases haven’t shown much love to the sequels (and understandably so) in terms of bonus content, so seeing so many rare images and anecdotes from the sets was refreshing.

Good ("The Howling"), bad ("Howling II") or godawful ("Howling: New Moon Rising"), Hammond allows room for each film to breathe, and even includes a fresh new “Howling” short story by Nick Stead and a thorough retrospective on the original book series author that got this whole thing started, Gary Brandner. Thoroughly entertaining, informative and with no small amount of bewilderment and frustration for how Clive Turner steered the series right into the fucking ground, “The Complete History of The Howling” is a wonderful compendium for fans of this unique, bizarre, and completely bonkers werewolf series.